Safari – TIA

            Even though it has already been a week since I arrived back in the states, I still wanted to share about our last weekend in Kenya and the safari! On Saturday morning, we left Kijabe for Nairobi around 8:30 in the morning. After dropping off our luggage at the Makazi apartments (the apartments we’ve always stayed at while in Nairobi), we headed to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to watch baby elephants play. Of course they were so cute. There was a little watering hole that they seemed to like rolling around in. We were also able to touch them if they came by us. Their skin is very rough and dry, and they have little wiry hairs all over.

While the elephants were fed and played, one of the trainers told everyone about the orphanage and each of the baby elephants there. Most of the elephants end up at the orphanage if they fall into a well or if their mother was killed by poachers. They live at the orphanage until they are about 3 years old and at that time they are reintroduced to the wild along with other elephants that are old enough to be released. The keepers who work at the orphanage actually sleep with the elephants because they need to eat three times throughout the night and need to be covered with a blanket. These elephants are better cared for than many of the people in this country! While we were there, we also saw a rhino. It was huge, but unfortunately it was asleep. That night we all met up for dinner at a nearby mall. We ate at a Java House for the third time. The food really isn’t even that great there, but I guess it’s just easy. I would have liked to try something different and more exciting.

            The next morning, we woke up early to begin our trip to the Masai Mara. The drive was extremely long. It took us about 2 hours to just get to the road that leads to the Masai Mara, and then we had to drive for about 3 more hours after that. Two of those hours were on one of the bumpiest roads I’ve been on in Kenya. And that’s saying a lot. We just kept driving deeper and deeper into the middle of nowhere. I kept thinking we had to be there soon, but we would just keep driving. Finally, we arrived at our hotel – Sarova Hotel, Mara Camp. When we drove up to the gates, there were about ten Masai women ready with handfuls of bracelets, necklaces, and carvings to try to sell us. The women are very persistent. They even opened one of the windows of one of our safari cars! I think their tactic is to stress you out so much that you buy something so they will go away.

Masai women at the entrance to Sarova

           The hotel was really nice. Our rooms were actually tents! But they weren’t your average tent. The back of the room/tent was actually three walls of stone to make up the bathroom area. The tent was also covered by a roof. So it was pretty luxurious as far as tents go. As soon as we arrived at the hotel, we had a late lunch in the dining room. The food was amazing – definitely the best food we’d had in a while. After lunch we put our stuff in our tents and got ready for our first drive out on the Masai Mara.

   

The tent

Our room

              Our first drive was only about an hour long, but we actually saw so many animals! We had only driven about 50 feet out of the entrance to the hotel when we saw a lion guarding a dead buffalo! It’s so amazing to be as close as we got to the animals. And they don’t even seem to care that we are there. I guess they are probably used to the safari cars driving all around them. As we continued driving, we saw tons of zebras, all types of gazelles and antelopes, buffalo, warthogs, vultures, and more lions. The Masai Mara looks like what you would think Africa looks like. Partway through our drive, the car I was in started leaking oil all over the place. Apparently the cap had come off somewhere down the road, so luckily there wasn’t too much damage. But because we couldn’t ride in our car anymore, we had to all pile into one safari car (originally in two). We thought it would be really fun to jump in the grass for a minute while transferring, but our driver made sure we weren’t out of the car for too long. It’s a 10,000 KSh fine if you are caught outside out your car! Once we were all settled into the one safari car, it started to rain. At first the rain was pretty light, so we continued our drive. Over the radio, our driver heard that there was a leopard somewhere nearby. We couldn’t see it at first, but then our driver decided to drive off the path so we could get a better view. We were only able to see the leopard for a minute or so, but it was still really amazing. We couldn’t stay long since the rain was starting to fall harder and we didn’t want to get stuck in the mud. Since leopards are so good at hiding themselves, it is very common not to see one at all during your safari. So even though the rain cut our first drive short, we were still able to see so many amazing animals.

The lion guarding his kill

              On Monday, we woke up early to spend a full day out on the Masai Mara. As soon as we left the hotel, we saw the same lion just 50 feet or so outside of the entrance, still guarding his kill. During our drive we saw all the animals that we saw the day before (minus the leopard) as well as several more that we hadn’t seen yet. We saw elephants, giraffes, ostriches, hyenas, and even cheetahs! We also drove to the border of Kenya and Tanzania where you can look across the Mara River and see the Serengeti. We even got out of the car and walked over into Tanzania – so now I can say I’ve been to two African countries! After our stop in Tanzania, we followed the river to a spot where tons of hippos and crocs hang out. We had to have a ranger with a machine gun give us our tour! It was really awesome – I wish I had an audio clip of the sound they make. It kind of sounds like grunting and laughing at the same time. Once we finished our tour of the hippos, we headed across the river to eat lunch. There were these monkeys called blue monkeys that kept trying to steal our food. One of them was actually successful in opening Peter’s lunch box and stealing a biscuit out of it! When we finished with lunch, we piled back into our safari cars and continued our drive. We saw more of the same amazing animals. You never really get enough of it.

         
              At the end of our drive, we went to a nearby Masi village where we were able to get a tour after paying 1,000 KSh (~$10). The men came out and did their warrior dance and challenged each other by jumping as high as they could straight into the air. It was really interesting to see the mud/dung huts that these people live in. The huts are actually made to house not only the family, but also the calves, which are at the center of Masai livelihood. We got tours of the homes, the pen for goats and older cows, and were shown how they make fire. They rub sticks together and use elephant dung and straw. It was kind of sad to see how the kids lined up for us to see them. They didn’t even have to be told what to do when they saw us. After we finished touring the compound, we were led outside to an area where they had set up souvenirs for us to buy. I left with a few bracelets to add to my collection from Kenya. 

At the Masai village

            Our last day in Kenya started with an early dawn drive. We left the hotel at 6:30 am. As soon as we left, we saw hyenas, jackals, and vultures scavenging the buffalo remains that the lion had left behind. It was a pretty slow morning at first. We saw antelopes and impalas and lots of guinea fowl. The most exciting part of the drive was when we spotted a huge heard of buffalo start running all together in one direction. When our driver saw this, he sped over there and by the time that we got there, there were about five lionesses on top of a buffalo. The buffalo was still alive and kicking, but the lions weren’t letting it go anywhere. We could see the male lion watching from a little ways back as well as the babies from the other side. I think we were probably surrounded by at least 20 lions. Once we finished watching the lions, we had to hurry back to the hotel so we could pack up and head to Kijabe. 

Lions killing a buffalo

            We arrived in Kijabe at 1:15 and joined the conference that was already going on. One of our deans at UTMB was actually giving the lecture and it was cool to be able to see him and hear his speech. We gave everyone a quick tour of the hospital before we had to leave to make it to the airport in time to catch out flights.

            This whole experience was so amazing for me and I know I’m so blessed to have had this opportunity. Thanks for reading!